Oops, apparently we squirrels are making the most of all our daylight hours this weekend. Sorry we’re running late. We had a very close guess today. These are butterfly eggs. That leaf would give you a surefire clue, if it weren’t magnified so much. (There’s a hint-these are tiny!)

It’s a milkweed leaf…so these are Monarch eggs!

They have been fluttering around the milkweeds, and fueling up on zinnia nectar.

This butterfly looks more like the Spicebush Swallowtail we featured a month ago, and hardly like a Tiger Swallowtail, but it is the ‘dark phase Tiger Swallowtail’. If you compare, it has less blue than the Spicebush and the a faint ‘tiger’ striping.

When baby birds start flapping their wings, we squirrels hunker down to watch–it’s always fun. This week, two baby Blue Jays did a test…er, glide.

This poor little fellow seemed stuck for some time in a gate.

The parent birds hovered nearby, bringing food, but we think in his distress, he got a bit confused and started begging to anyone!

Finally, the last baby was brave enough to land. The parents keep up with feeding, and we hope protecting through the night. And just so you humans know, that’s usually the case. If the young birds have feathers, they usually are on their first flights, awkward, but that’s where the phrase ‘testing their wings’ comes from!

Ms. Flora says I should have told you the berries will turn dark purple–they aren’t far enough along yet. *tail drooping* Sorry.

This member of the Lily family is Indian Cucumber, Medeola virginiana. It is the only member of its family, which is kind of cool.

Lily family members usually have leaves in sets of three or six. But like with Virginia Creeper, the number of leaves on an Indian Cucumber can vary, three to five on the top and between five to nine on the bottom. The Indian Cucumber has leaves in either one or two tiers. Only the plants with two tiers bear flowers and then fruit.

Even we squirrels do not see this plant very often, yet it grows throughout North America east of the Mississippi River. Parts of the Indian Cucumber are edible, but as we always recommend with you humans desiring to collect wild edibles, please consult your human experts. Do not rely on a squirrel’s sense of what to eat!